Mariska Richters Digital Dogmom Life

I had an amazing Canada Day long weekend with my family, complete with two birthday celebrations, for which I was on cake duty. Being more of a pie baker, the cake thing was new to me, but I think I pulled it off nicely.

My nephew is a huge Spider-Man fan. It’s all he can talk about. He has a ton of action figures, and has seen all the movies and gets very excited when talking about anything Spider-Man. So naturally, I had to come up with a cake for his 5th birthday that would have him equally excited.

After collecting a bunch of supplies, I baked the cake the night before, and I spent last Thursday evening in cake creation/decorating mode. (Thank goodness for friends who pour drinks!)

Here’s how it turned out.

I created the second cake for my dad. I had no idea what I was going to do before I started and here is what happened:

Both cakes were a hit with family and friends. The Spider-Man cake was a family celebration, while my dad’s cake was shared one of many desserts at his big 70th birthday celebration.

I haven’t had that much creative fun since my high school and university fine arts days. I guess I won those fine arts awards for a reason! I’d forgotten how much I love working with my hands, and I’m  inspired to keep that creativity flowing.

With just over a year until the 2014 Winter Games (389 days), the torch was unveiled last night, as we slept here in Vancouver.

The torch has a fun, modern and elegant design, and I, personally, am loving that they used the traditional Russian red! The Olympic torch’s Paralympic counterpart is blue. You can see an image of it here.

Some information about the torch, quoted from the Sochi 2014 Facebook page:

“The concept behind the torch for the 2014 Games is based on the contrasts of Russia. It combines motifs from Russian folklore with ideas of innovation and technological breakthroughs. Its pattern is something that all Russians have been familiar with since childhood, when they first hear the fairy-tales and legends about the Firebird, or the Phoenix which rose from the ashes.

The torch design was developed by a Russian creative team, led by Vladimir Pirozhkov and Andrei Vodyanik. The designers paid particular attention to the torch’s construction and its flame-lighting system. The construction of the torch ensures that the flame burns reliably in difficult conditions, such as strong winds, heavy frosts or any surprises that a Russian winter can throw up.

The torch weighs nearly 1.8 kg, is 0.95 m tall, 0.145 m wide (at its widest part), and 0.54 m deep. Its weight and center of gravity were carefully calculated so as to make the torch as comfortable as possible to carry whilst running. The torch and its component parts have been put through numerous tests, and have been tested in the harshest of conditions. 14,000 Olympic torches will be produced.”
(Torch image source: Sochi 2014 Facebook page)

I had the opportunity to get up close and personal to both the Vancouver and London Olympic torches, and now I’m looking forward to picking up the 2014 torch in Sochi! I’m very excited to make that a reality! Less than 389 days to go!

      

For more images of the Sochi 2014 Olympic and Paralympic torches, please visit the Sochi 2014 Flickr page.

I’ve never been one to set serious resolutions for myself when ringing in the new year, but for some reason, this year feels different. So, in the spirit of change and with the goal of creating an amazing and inspiring life, I’ve come up with some goals for 2013.

1. Less texting, more quality time – see I tell you all about it here.
2. Build up my photography kit and take on more photo projects – 2012 did not have me out with my camera nearly enough. To keep myself creative and inspired, this needs to change!
3. Learn Spanish – I’ve always been good with languages, and have taken Spanish courses several times over the years, but because there has not been much opportunity to practice, it has never stuck. In 2013, I will immerse myself into a Spanish speaking environment and learn to speak fluently.
4. Travel to a new country – Traveling, experiencing and photographing other cultures is one of my passions in life. That, and food! I’ve traveled to a new country every year for the past four years, and I don’t intend to stop now! I have a feeling that this will go hand in hand with number 3…
5. Stay healthy and fit through exercise and a healthy diet – As cliche as it seems for a new year’s resolution, eating right and exercising makes a huge difference to the way I feel, both physically and mentally. I want to take this a step further and come up with a physical goal for myself, for example, run a half marathon or Tough Mudder. Who’s in?
6. Continue to be the Yes-(wo)Man – New experiences come out of trying new things. I’ve made a rule for myself over the past couple of years, that if I’m invited to go do something, I MUST say yes, unless there is a reasonable excuse not to (like fear of dying).
7. Plan and prepare for the Sochi 2014 Olympics – The Vancouver 2010 Olympics was one on the most inspiring times of my life in Vancouver. I was also lucky enough to be in London for the 2012 Games as well! It only makes sense to continue be a part of such an amazing world event! I can’t WAIT!
8. LIVE LIFE!! – No more sitting on the sidelines of life, get IN IT!!

Bring it ON 2013!!

I was thinking the other day about what habits I’d like to break in 2013. Aside from being healthier and more fit, and other usual resolutions, my thoughts landed on spending more quality time with the people I care about. When analyzing why the quality time feels like it’s missing, I came to the realization that over this past year, I have done far more communication by electronic means, like text, WhatsApp, or Facebook chat, than actually spending time and physically talking with my friends/family.

If I look at my iPhone text history, there are far more conversations happening in there, than I have actually had speaking on the phone. My phone is no longer a social tool. My call history consists mostly of work related calls, and not a lot of calls to catch up and connect with friends. I don’t like this. I don’t like that I have formed a habit of typing to the people that I care about. It’s so impersonal! I would far rather meet up and have a coffee or share a meal with you, than text. I would rather have a phone conversation, than Facebook chat.

So, here it is! My first resolution for 2013 will be to retrain myself to:

• Call more, text less.
• Spend more quality time, and less time typing into my iPhone.
• Connect more in person, and spend less time on Facebook.
• Encourage you to do the same when communicating with me and the people YOU care about!

And there you have it. My first resolution. I won’t be waiting until 2013 to get started! With the holidays upon us, there is no better time to truly connect with the people I care about in a more personal way. I’ll be speaking to you soon!

 

It was a beautiful fall day at the park! Sunshine on one side, and dark, moody clouds on the other. Gotta love Instagram for the added effects.

Earlier this summer I took a last minute, unexpected trip to the Netherlands for family reasons. It just so happened that it was timed perfectly with the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. So I thought to myself, “should I go to London?” The answer, of course, was, “hells yes, you should go to London!!” I was already most of the way there, and all that stood between me and experiencing that amazing Olympic energy again was a small puddle jump across the English Channel! I know I would have regretted it, had I not gone.

So upon a trusted recommendation, I navigated to the EasyJet website, one of Europe’s low cost airlines, and for about $200 CAD I booked my return ticket from Amsterdam to London Gatwick. From there I needed a train ticket to get into London proper. After a quick Google search I came upon the Gatwick Express site, and booked a ticket for about $45 CAD return, which went right to London’s Victoria station. Easy!

Finally, accommodations… I was very fortunate and thankful to the generosity of friends who were in London for the Games, and I was able to stay with them in the flat they had rented in Kensington. Awesome! I was set! On to London!!

As it was my first time in London, I spent a day exploring some of the well known landmarks and historical areas. I started in Hyde Park at Kensington Palace and slowly made my way, mostly on foot, to Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. The best part though (and thanks to James and Greg for giving me the ticket!), was the athletics event at the Olympic stadium! This was my first summer Olympics, so I was very excited about attending an official Olympic event! It was truly amazing to watch the athletic ability of the competitors! Their speed and talent was incredible to watch! I’m so grateful for having these two amazing friends who helped make it all happen for me!

I’d also like to send out a HUGE thank you to the Olympic Party Boys, James Mazur and Greg Mazur, for their generosity and hospitality that made my London adventure such an unforgettable experience! You guys are incredible and I’m so very grateful for your friendship and epic awesomeness! Big love to you both! 

For more travel images, please visit my Flickr page.

 

I arrived in Thailand at the end of March 2011 armed with my PADI Open Water certification and a mere 7 dives under my belt. After a Scuba Review dive with terrible visibility off Koh Tao, I did the Enriched Air Nitrox specialty course and then the Advanced Open Water course at Buddha View Dive Resort, with PADI instructor, and friend, Robert Scales.

For my PADI Advanced Open Water Course, I chose to do deep, navigation, peak buoyancy, night and, of course, photography as my adventure dives to complete the course.

Everything went smoothly, and I did not feel the effects of nitrogen narcosis during the deep dive segment. I was fairly nervous about doing the night dive. Diving in the dark, where you can see only where your light shines was hugely intimidating for me. But surprisingly, I found it to be very peaceful and even relaxing. It was probably my best dive experience off Koh Tao.

So, just like that, 3 days later, I was an Advanced Open Water Diver! Yes!!

So… The whole purpose of doing the Advanced Open Water course was to do a three day liveaboard trip to the Similan Islands and Richelieu Rock with Eden Divers in Khao Lak. Our experience with Eden Divers was better than I could have imagined. Never having done a liveaboard before, I was unsure what I should expect, but this far exceeded my expectations!

 

We chose Eden Divers because of the small number of people on the boat. The Sea of Fantasy can take up to 13 liveaboard guests plus crew. We were not interested in going out on a massive boat with 30+ people, where you would constantly be running into people while diving. 13 seemed like it would be a much better and intimate experience. So, we splurged (just a tiny splurge) and booked ourselves one of the two air conditioned master cabins on the ship. Awesome!

The trip included 5 amazing meals a day, coffee, tea, drinking water, fruit and snacks, and you could also purchase soft drinks and beer on the ship, or bring your own. You could do up to four dives each day and if you were nitrox certified (which I now was), the nitrox was included at no extra cost. And to top it all off our guide, Fariborze, was amazing!

Diving courses were also available on the boat, as each guide is a certified instructor. So, for example, if you didn’t have your nitrox certification when you boarded the ship, you could upgrade your knowledge and skills while on the trip and do your dives on nitrox. We had one fellow guest who had started her Open Water course a couple of days before the trip, and she completed it on the boat and decided to also do her Advanced Open Water and Nitrox courses on the boat as well.

The crew on the boat was nothing short of awesome! Our rooms were cleaned and made up each day. The meals we ate were super tasty. The deck crew below, helping with our gear thought of everything before we even had a spark of an idea in our minds. We barely had to do anything except climb into our wetsuits, strap on our BCDs and jump in the 29 celsius water! Awesome!

So, on to the fun stuff! What did we see….??? We woke up on the first day to a tornado/water spout! Very cool! We did 11 dives over 3 days and saw all kinds of crazy creatures: lion fish, dancing shrimp, many giant moray eels and barracudas, many different nudibranchs, trigger fish, box fish (one of my favourites), black spotted puffer fish, porcupine fish, groupers, travellys, the biggest lobster I’ve EVER seen (I’m probably evil for wanting to see it on my plate…), sea horses, harlequin shrimp, ghost pipefish, trumpet fish, jans pipefish, spider crabs, leopard sharks, napoleon wrasse, bandit sea snakes (very poisonous), stone fish, scorpion fish, honeycomb moray eels, and that just scratches the surface! Of course we saw all of the more common creatures like clown fish, anemones, urchins, corals, etc. The two things I was really hoping to encounter were the manta rays and a whale shark, but they did not reveal themselves to us on this adventure. It just means I will have to keep looking and finding many other critters in the process!

So as I stepped off the ship, I now had logged 24 dives in my log book, and I feel much more confident underwater.

It’s funny… when most people look out at the ocean, they have no idea of what lies beneath. There truly is a whole other world on this planet that we share, and I have not even scratched the surface with what I have seen. I could get used to being on the water more. A different view each time you look out, and a new world to explore each time you jump overboard. Doesn’t sound half bad. I could get used to that life.

A HUGE thank you Eden Divers for an amazing experience in the Similan Islands! Thank you Fariborze for being a brilliant guide! And thank you Robert, for being my instructor and dive buddy throughout our Thailand diving adventures! The trip was truly amazing.

[miniflickr photoset_id=72157626990617591&sortby=date-posted-asc&per_page=48]

 

My visit to the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, Thailand was one of the most amazing experiences ever! This is a photo of my favourite pachyderm at the park, Medo.